Man-Eating Tattoo Attacks Biker

APRIL 29--A California man who sought to have an obscene tattoo covered up is now suing a parlor for allegedly botching the procedure and leaving him with a "flesh-eating virus," according to a lawsuit filed this month. Last June, Michael Machetti, a heavily tattoed motorcycle enthusiast, went to Bull's Eye Tattoo Studio seeking to have a neck tattoo reading "Fuck You" covered up with a comparatively tamer "666" tat. He wanted the curse words obscured as a concession to fellow employees and brass at Hilton Hotels, where he worked in the reservations department, said Ron Bakal, one of Machetti's lawyers. But, Machetti alleges, the tattoo artist used unsanitary equipment that infected him with a flesh-eating virus. As a result, Machetti has undergone several surgeries--on his neck and under both arms--to remove "huge portions of skin" that had been attacked by the virus. To date, Bakal told TSG, Machetti's medical bills have exceeded $580,000 as a result of the virulent infection. Bull's Eye owner Sam Enriquez, who has not seen Machetti's Superior Court complaint (a copy of which you'll find below), vehemently denied that his parlor was responsible for Machetti's illness. In a TSG interview, Enriquez contended that he ran a sanitary operation and charged that Machetti was responsible for his own infection because he did not properly care for the fresh tattoo work. (5 pages)